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U.N.I.T.
Overview The Unified Intelligence Taskforce — formerly known as the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, and more usually called UNIT — was a military organisation which operated under the auspices of the United Nations. Its remit was to investigate and combat paranormal and extraterrestrial threats to the Earth. UNIT was not the only alien defence organisation, but it was the one with which the Doctor had the closest personal involvement. Pre Warping Week history the roots of the organisation in the history of the Doctor Who universe lie in one extraterrestrial incursion.There was an attempt to take over London by a disembodied entity known as the Great Intelligence, using robotic Yetis and a deadly cobweb-like fungus. A small group of British infantrymen, ultimately led by Colonel Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart of the Scots Guards (assisted by the Doctor), beat back the attempted conquest in the tunnels of the London Underground. UNIT also owes part of its existence to a much later Incident involving the Seventh Doctor (depicted by the doctor who episode: Remembrance of the Daleks ) In that incident, two Dalek factions fought a battle in London over the Time Lord artefact known as the Hand of Omega in late 1963. They were defeated by detachment of soldiers from the 'Intrusion Counter-Measures Group', commanded by Group Captain "Chunky" Gilmore, along with help from the mysterious time traveller known as the Doctor. Gilmore also had the assistance of a Scientific Advisor, Dr. Rachel Jensen. The Dalek incident was covered-up and the ICMG was disbanded shortly afterwards; however, several of its training materials and procedures were adopted by UNIT. Gilmore later served as an advisor, often lecturing for UNIT personnel. Following the Yeti Incident, the United Nations became aware that the world faced threats from extraterrestrial sources, and that with the space programme sending probes deeper and deeper into space, mankind had drawn attention to itself. Consequently, the United Nations established UNIT with the mandate to investigate, monitor and combat such threats. The United Nations was also given jurisdiction over first contact situations in 1968, Lethbridge-Stewart was promoted to the rank of Brigadier and put in charge of the British contingent of UNIT, which was apparently under the purview of the British government's Department C19. Four years after the incident in the London Underground, the newly-formed UNIT's baptism of fire was an invasion by the Cybermen. UNIT repulsed this, once again with the Second Doctor's help. Following this, Lethbridge-Stewart became convinced of the necessity of scientific advice in battling extraterrestrial threats, and recruited Dr Elizabeth Shaw from Cambridge. Coincidentally, the Third Doctor had been exiled to Earth by the Time Lords, and he agreed to join UNIT as its Scientific Advisor just in time to help defeat the Autons. The Doctor was later assisted by Jo Grant. In addition to combatting alien threats, the British contingent has also been responsible for providing general security under the aegis of the UN. A significant example was the provision of security at the Styles peace conference. UNIT first operated out of an office building in London and subsequently moved to a headquarters in the country that had been built over the ruins of a priory. Its main headquarters, was with the United Nations in Geneva. When the Third Doctor's exile was lifted, his association with UNIT became more sporadic, especially after his regeneration into his fourth incarnation. However, the organisation continued to execute its mandate to investigate and combat alien activity. Lethbridge-Stewart retired in 1976, and was succeeded by Colonel Crichton. UNIT did not appear again in force until 1989, where the British contingent (although it also has foreign members) was commanded by Brigadier Winifred Bambera, and Lethbridge-Stewart was called out of retirement to help defeat an other-dimensional invasion of armoured knights led by Morgaine. UNIT resurfaced in the year 2005, where it sent a delegation to a gathering of experts at 10 Downing Street in response to a spaceship crashing in the River Thames. All of the experts were electrocuted by the alien Slitheen. They would appear again in the incident depicted as "The Christmas Invasion"', with a facility in the Tower of London, access to alien language translation software, and awareness of Martians. Prime Minister Harriet Jones oversaw the Sycorax crisis from this facility alongside commanding officer Major Blake. The UK contingent of UNIT had ties to Torchwood, while the United Nations are unaware of its existence; this may indicate that the UK contingent of UNIT kept secrets from its parent organisation. Major Blake contacted Torchwood to assist against the Sycorax in "The Christmas Invasion"; There was rivalry between the two groups however; at one point, Jack Harkness was know to derisively refer to UNIT as "the acceptable face of intelligence gathering about aliens", and Torchwood did not inform UNIT about the powerful Resurrection Gauntlet. in an alternate timeline (depicted in "Turn Left") it was revealed that UNIT was involved in investigating the attempted Racnoss invasion, independently of the Doctor. In the alternative universe created by the Tenth Doctor's death, one UNIT team discovered the Doctor's body, whilst another under Captain Marissa Magambo and Rose Tyler salvaged "surface technology" from the Doctor's dying TARDIS in order to send Donna Noble back in time and prevent the Doctor's death. UNIT have an aircraft carrier called the Valiant designed by Minister of Defence and later Prime Minister Harold "Harry" Saxon (alias the Master). UNIT assumes control of handling the Toclafane visitation, not knowing it has been secretly engineered by the Master. While brief radio reports can be heard near the end suggesting UNIT is being overwhelmed by the Toclafane invasion, the Paradox machine's destruction reverses time to just before the invasion began. A major UNIT base in Manhattan had managed to create a rudimentary teleport device based on salvaged Sontaran technology, known as Project Indigo; Martha Jones (A former Companion of the Tenth Doctor) had been promoted to Indigo's chief medical officer. UNIT had also created the Osterhagen Key, a doomsday weapon that would trigger over twenty-four nuclear warheads under the Earth's crust and destroy the planet in the event of a situation that left humanity in incredible suffering with no hope of survival. When the Earth was shifted to the Medusa Cascade by Davros and the Daleks, the Daleks attacked UNIT bases, destroying the Valiant and wiping out the Manhattan base. While the UN surrendered, Martha was ordered to use Project Indigo prototype to escape, and to attempt to find the Doctor and (if no other option remained) to use the Osterhagen Key. With her help, the Daleks were defeated and Earth returned to its proper place, and The Doctor asked that she destroy the Osterhagen Key. Post Warping Week The Entity that Created Earth Prime and the UE Universe Pulled a version of UK contingent of UNIT from just before the Darleks made their move to move the earth to the Medusa CascadeCategory:Organisations on Earth PrimeCategory:Organisations